


Accidentally a Fan

by EvilBloodyBook



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-08-28 19:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8459269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilBloodyBook/pseuds/EvilBloodyBook
Summary: Alya wants to dress up for a festival, but Marinette's excuse for why she doesn't want to dress as Ladybug causes more problems then it prevents. Soon everyone thinks Marinette is Chat Noir's number one fan, including Chat!





	1. The Excuse

Marinette didn’t want to dress up as Ladybug for the party, and made up a lie as her reason why. Now everyone thinks she’s Chat Noir’s number one fan, including Chat!

 

 

It had been a joke, a quick little throw away lie. 

 

Alya had a grand idea to throw a festival to kick off the end of summer. First week of September just before school started back after the break, there would be a grand block party festival in the residential sector where she lived. The young blogger had gone above and beyond getting permits to set up snack stands, she’d contracted Nathaniel to help her design street lights and decorations. It was ambitious and Marinette hadn’t been able to say no when her best friend had begged her to design them Ladybug and Chat Noir inspired dresses for the event.

 

When it came to actually start on making the outfits, Alya had been surprised to see who was wearing what. “Come on, girl. I know I’m a big Ladybug fan, but you’re making these for free. You should totally be the one to rock the spots for this.”

 

The secret superhero laughed nervously. Alya was constantly on the lookout to discover Ladybug’s identity. The last thing Marinette wanted was for everyone to see her walking around in a red and black polka dotted rockabilly dress. “Oh, no,” she waved her hands wildly. “You totally need to wear the Ladybug dress. I’d much rather wear the Chat Noir one.” Alya looked flabbergasted at the comment. “I’m just...such a huge fan,” the words had tumbled out and she slapped her hands over her mouth like she could just shove them back in and unsay them. Before the sentence had even finished, she had already realized two better explanations. As delight spread across her best friend’s face, she came up with another four that were less believable, but would have inspired preferable reactions.

 

“I had no idea!” Alya had giggled. The giggle was damning. Marinette wasn’t sure how, but this moment was going to come back to haunt her somehow. She winced. “All this time I’ve been going on and on about Ladybug, I could have been getting you choice pictures of Chat Noir.”

 

Marinette was sure she’d regret letting this play out, but she rolled. Maybe if she down played it? “I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

 

“Oh no, it makes sense,” Alya ticked her tongue thoughtful. “Blond hair, green eyes...He’s your type. Plus he’s personally saved you, what...twice?” Marinette shyly fidgeted. Technically, if you counted the times he had saved Ladybug, the number was a lot higher. “Three times? I mean, of course you’d be a fan.”

 

“It’s really not that big a deal.”

 

Alya grinned as her eyes twinkled. “It’s like you never said anything.”

 

Marinette could feel the regret already sinking in. If she was lucky, this would result in no more than a few extra Chat Noir pictures showing up on the Ladyblog, but when had that ever been Marinette’s luck? Chloe would find out and mock her. No...that was ridiculous. Chloe had been caught on live TV running around her father’s hotel in a Ladybug cosplay. The bully had no room to poke fun at anyone for being a fan. This would be annoying and embarrassing, but no more than any day in the teen’s life tended to be.

 

The rest of the fitting had gone smoothly and conversations had safely looped back to other topics. Who would be at the event? Should they coordinate with Nino and arrive together with him and Adrian? It started to feel like Alya’s comment had been truthful. It was like she had never said anything, and yet Marinette still felt like danger was coming. A tiny leak in a dam that seemed harmless now, but was doomed to bring ruin.

 

~~~

 

Two weeks later after a battle that had gone smoothly, Ladybug had been pleased to have a quick chat with Alya. “You and Chat Noir are a really great team, huh?” Ayla had chirped.

 

“Of course! Chat always has my back.” It hadn’t been a weird question, but something in Alya’s eyes had spoke of an interest she didn’t quite understand. Alya wasn’t trying to imply they were a couple, was she? And why hadn’t she asked if the hero would be popping in at the block party? As she departed, Ladybug couldn’t shake the unsteady feeling in her stomach...and she never saw Alya flag Chat Noir to hold up a second.

 

Alya beamed like she was ready to burst. “Would you mind signing a poster? I recently found out my best friend is a HUGE fan of yours and I wanted to surprise her.”

 

There was a moment where Chat balked. Marinette was a fan of him? “Oh? I had no idea Princess thought of me like that.” He took the offered poster. “To Marinette, my biggest fan” he narrated out loud. “With love, Chat Noir.” He gives Ayla a cheeky grin when he noticed her filming. “I hope she likes that.” He dotted the “I” in Noir with a paw print.

 

“Marinette is gonna be so psyched!” Alya gushed excitedly, putting her camera back in the bag. “Thanks a lot!”

 

“Hey, thank you. Love the blog.”

 

~~~

 

For Marinette, the comment about being a fan of Chat Noir had already been forgotten. It’d been nearly a month since then and with summer vacation nearing its end and the block party festival only days away, the blue eyed hero had other things to worry about. She’d met up with her partner a few times to discuss patrols. With Marinette helping at the bakery in the mornings and sewing up a storm at night, she had been thankful Hawk Moth had apparently taken the summer off as well. With no akuma to fight, Chat hadn’t even noticed Ladybug’s decreased presence, only complaining they should patrol together so he could see his Bugaboo.

 

Chat had seemed giddy about something thought and had barely flirted beyond his affectionate nickname use. While he hadn’t been distant, he had definitely appeared distracted. Marinette wasn’t sure what had gotten into him. She destransformed in the alley, filing the confusion away for later after her last batch of summer reading, but all hope of that faded the second she found walked into her room to find a framed movie sized poster of Chat Noir in her face. “Ta-da!” Alya cheered, popping out from behind the poster in her hands. “Surprise! I told Chat Noir my friend was a big fan and he autographed it for you!” Alya set the gift down against the wall so she could throw her arms around her friend’s shoulders. “He knew who I was talking about before I even said your name and called you his princess too! Girl, he remembers you, how cool is that?”

 

“I’m his...princess?” Marinette clutched at her chest. She could handle Chat crushing on Ladybug. Something about the transformation into Ladybug gave her confidence she didn’t normally have. Even a fraction of that attention directed towards Marinette? She wasn’t sure she could handle that. “Princess?” In fairness, Marinette did remember him calling her that once ages ago, but for him to repeat it to someone else? Damn him for being a nicknamer. It was always ‘My Lady’ and ‘Bugaboo’ not counting the few times he had tossed around his puns. If Hawkmoth didn’t name the akuma, Chat Noir most certainly would have.

 

Alya moved the framed poster up on Marinette’s desk, trying to find a good patch of wall to hang it up. Marinette saw her friend’s mouth moving and even heard enough to know she was talking about her most recent video upload to the Ladyblog. She struggled to focus on what her friend was saying, but it faded out to a dull ringing in her ears. Chat Noir was never supposed to find out Marinette was a fan. No wonder he had been acting so distracted, he probably was getting a swelled head about this. Marinette was trying to plan, difficult to do while Alya was in the room and she couldn’t talk out loud or bounce ideas off Tikki, but it wasn’t like Chat would be seeing her room so he’d never see her with the poster up on the wall. Where it was framed. Chat’s big stupid face was right at her workstation looking down at her.

 

Rationally, Marinette knew this wasn’t terrible. She rarely had visitors to her room aside from Alya or Manon on a regular basis. There were a few rare commission works, but never for very long. If she picked a good spot for it, the average person wouldn’t notice. Alya would be thrilled to see it on the wall and Manon would ignore it since her room was covered in posters of every role model imaginable. “Alya, thank you! You really didn’t have to do that!” Marinette said finally with more enthusiasm than she actually felt. “Really didn’t have to do that,” she whispered to Tikki inside her coat pocket. “I have no idea what to say.”

 

“Oh please, it’s the least I could do, what with you making me such a bomb Ladybug dress!” Alya turned her attention to the dress form. “Speaking of, it looks like you’re done with the alternations. You work so fast!” She gave the dress form a slight spin, watching as the skirt flared out. “Can I take it home?”

 

“Not yet,” Marinette apologized. “I couldn’t work on it this morning since Manon was here. I’ll finish pulling out the pins and bring it over to your place tonight before the movie.” She waved her hand at the room. “Of course, I still have to clean up after babysitting before I can get started.” The dolls Marinette had made looked like they had exploded out of the toy chest.

 

Alya hummed in understanding. Once she was sure the framed poster wasn’t going to fall down, she started gathering up the dolls. “After what happened with the Puppeter, I’m surprised you still have these.” Alya glanced over her shoulder to make sure Marinette was occupied with removing pins from the Ladybug dress. She bumped Lady Wifi’s face with Bubbler’s in a small doll kiss. “I mean, some baddie could come along and make you do...anything.” She grinned despite the burning in her cheeks as she shoved them into the toy chest.

 

“Manon likes them,” Marinette explained with a heavy sigh. “Besides, after she got akumitized, I’ve started letting her be Ladybug and Chat Noir when we play so she can win sometimes too. And making a doll of her as Puppeteer really won me some favors.”

 

“You could stand to win a few more favors...We have a casualty.”

 

Marinette turned to see Alya holding a ripped Chat Noir. “Oh no, Chaton!” She stuck the pin her hand into the corner of her mouth and reached for the wounded doll. 

 

“Oh it’s Chaton now, is it?” Alya giggled.

 

The secret super hero ignored her friend’s comment as best as she could as she examined the doll. Thankfully it appeared to be a clean tear on the seam from broken thread, an easy fix. “Hush,” she chided as she stuck the pin from her mouth through the fabric to hold the torn sides together. “It’s just a broken thread. I think I still have a needle with black thread in it.”

 

Alya laughed. “I’ll let you get to it then. I’ll see you at 7?”

 

“Of course!” Marinette waved goodbye to her friend before plucking a threaded needle out of her pin cushion.

 

Safely alone, Tikki shot out of Marinette’s coat to where the poster was propped on the desk. “Oh Marinette, look at how wonderful this is!”

 

“Because I totally need Chat Noir watching me even we’re not fighting?” The teen admired her repair, moving the doll’s arm in a little wave.

 

Tikki didn’t seem dissuaded. “The ladybug and the cat have always been partners...I think it’s nice to have a picture of him.” She grinned at Marinette over her tiny shoulder. “We should hang it up.”

 

Marinette set the doll of Chat Noir on her chair. “Later maybe.”

 

The poster sat on her desk, propped against the wall blocking her pictures of Adrien. It would definitely have to be moved. She opened her coat. “Come on Tikki, let’s grab something to eat before we get ready.”

 

Marinette stole one last glance at her room before descending. Green buttoned eyes looked back at her from the desk. If it made Alya happy, Marinette could pretend. For now at least.


	2. Papercut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!  
> After Marienette is no where to be found following an akuma attack, emotions run high and Ladybug isn't as reassuring to Chat as she wishes she could be.

The sun had set on Paris, but the city was still bright with lights as Marinette parted away with Alya. The Ladybug dress had fit perfectly and with no need for further alterations, Alya would be keeping it at her house until the block party. Marinette still had two days to finish the hem on her own Chat Noir inspired dress. She paused in her walk home to eye some lace in a closed shop’s store window.

“Lace trim?” Marinette asked the kwami in her purse.

Tikki poked her head out of the bag. “Hmm. No, I think it would clash with the eyelets in the skirt.”

As the hero considered her friend’s protest, her eyes grew wide realizing someone else was being reflected in the window. She span around. “Chat Noir?!”

“Miss me, Princess?” he asked teasingly. “Or were you talking to someone else?”

Marinette felt Tikki’s retreat into the clutch and she quietly closed it to prevent Chat from catching a peak. “I….no. I was just talking to myself.” She laughed nervously and squirmed. “What are you doing out here? There wasn’t an akuma, was there?”

“Don’t you worry,” Chat assured. “Just doing a little patrol for the night. Someone has to keep Paris safe, you know.” He flexed his muscles and Marinette couldn’t help but giggle as he posed. “But I suppose I have an even more important job now…”

“Oh?”

“Well obviously I should walk my fan home!” Chat extended his arm, offering Marinette his elbow. “You really shouldn’t be walking by yourself so late.”

Marinette’s cheeks quickly warmed with a blush as she tried to wave him away. “Oh no, I’m fine, really. My house isn’t far at all.”

Refusing to yield, Chat Noir put on a mock pout. “Then I don’t have far to walk you, do I?”

It was late, even with the city lights it was dark. It had been 10 when she left Alya’s house and Marinette wasn’t sure how long she’d been window shopping when she should have been walking. Logically, it was far better to accept the offer. It would also be quicker to let him walk her home then to argue with him. Marinette kept her eyes downcast as she took his offered elbow. “Okay, but straight home.”

Chat Noir plastered on a cheshire grin as the shorter girl reluctantly took his elbow. With an exaggerated swagger, he happily rounded the corner with Marinette, ignorant of the kwami who giggling at the interaction or how Marinette stiffened the second Tikki in her bright red glory exposed herself even briefly to watch. He did, however, notice the way the windows rattled and he span Marinette away before the glass could shatter, shielding her with his form. “I guess there was an akuma after all…” he grumbled. Chat scooped Marinette into his arms to dash her to the large stone arch of a sturdy looking doorway. “I have to go be a hero, wait right here until it’s safe.” He placed his clawed hands on his classmate’s shoulders. “You’ll get home in one piece, I paw-mice.”

The pun was groan worthy, but Marinette let it slide, instead letting her focus slip over Chat Noir’s head to the akuma she could see in the distance with papers swirling around him. Chat patted her again, assuring he’d be right back. Once he was out of earshot, Marinette looked to Tikki’s hiding spot. “We don’t know how long Chat’s been transformed, so we should make this quick.”

“Right, Marinette!”

“Spots on!”

In a swirl of glow, Ladybug made the scene, springing to action behind her partner. “Late night reading, Chatton?”

Chat scowled as he batted the papers that had stuck to him out of his face. “You know me, Ladybug. Always trying to better myself.” He looked up just in time to shout a warning to Ladybug. The two heroes leapt easily away from rivers of papers that rained down. Ladybug’s eyes widened to see that the paper had sliced through the stone of the building behind them. “I guess paper does beat rock,” Chat said with an impressed whistle. Seeing Ladybug’s confusion, “Uh, don’t worry about that.”

After so many battles by each other’s side, Ladybug barely needed to say a word to express her plans to Chat Noir. A few quick hand gestures, Ladybug was able to convey an entire battle plan to her partner from the opposite side of the street. The akuma was easily distracted by almost everything, which hurt as much as it helped. While every attempt at communication seemed to draw Papercut’s attention, so did the camera flash from the fanny pack wearing tourist who had made a wrong turn. The sudden flash of light was met with another avalanche of paper, but Chat was quick to block it with a rapid swirl of his staff. Chat and the wide-eyed tourist were fine, but the building behind them began to crumble.

With all eyes on the falling rocks, Ladybug easily destroyed the office notebook in Papercut’s hands releasing a butterfly of black light. A startled scream from Chat Noir made her falter, the magic yoyo missing the butterfly on first swing. She threw the yoto again, catching the offender. “Time to de-evilize!” She bid the butterfly farewell before turning to her partner.

“Chatton, what on earth was that about?” Ladybug frowned when Chat didn’t immediately respond. “Chat?” She followed his gaze. “Oh...oh no.” The building Chat Noir was staring at bore the crumbled archway that he’d left Marinette in for safety. 

“You...you need to say it, Ladybug.”

“What?”

“Say ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ and throw you lucky charm so it goes back!” he screamed at her.

The scream startled Ladybug, but there was no protest from her. The swirls of red and black magic swept over the street. Sidewalk repaired, the arch rebuilt itself, the destroyed notebook restored and the office woman who had become Papercut collected it before stumbling off back to her car. The archway stayed empty. Ladybug was running through a list of reasons why Marinette wouldn’t be there, but excuses died before being spoken when she heard the first sob. “What did I do?” Chat asked quietly. “What did I do?”

“Chat?”

“I...I killed...what did I do?”

“You didn’t kill anyone Chat, I’m sure-”

“She trusted me.”

Ladybug reached out for his shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. “You didn’t kill anyone, Chat Noir. She probably just went home when she saw the fighting.” Chat shook his head. “I’ll go check her house and make sure she’s okay.”

“I put her there. She trusted me and I left her there. She wouldn’t have been on this street at all if...I killed her. Oh Marinette, I’m so sorry.”

“Chat, it’s all right.”

Chat shrugged off Ladybug’s hand. “All right?” he snapped. As he turned to face her, Ladybug saw the tears. His breath was heavy and fast, he raised a hand to wipe his face, but the tears kept coming. It was alarming, they’d thought they lost citizen’s before and while showing clear concern, he’d always been adamant they needed to find the missing. He had never cried before. “Say it again. You didn’t say it right before. Throw your lucky charm.”

“Marinette lives really close, Chat, you don’t need to be so worried. If she had been in the arch-”

“SAY IT AGAIN!”

Ladybug was silenced.

“I need to find her. She’s my fan. MINE.”

“I’ll find her,” Ladybug promised.

“You don’t get it. Marinette trusted me. She’s my fan, my only fan. And I...I killed her because I wanted her to think I’m cool.” He kicked the building. “I am such-”

“An idiot!” Ladybug agreed. “Chat, how far are you from Marinette’s house? If she had been in the arch way when it fell, she’d have been in the arch way when it reformed. She went home.” A red gloved hand caressed his face; she wasn’t offended when he flinched away looking ashamed. Ladybug started to twirl her yoyo for departure. “I promise you, please, just check the area, I’ll check her house.”

“I...Yeah. I need to check the area.”

Ladybug brushed a strand of his hair out of Chat’s face. “And for what it’s worth, I’m your fan too.”

“...Thanks Ladybug.”

With a swirl, the yoyo shot off and Ladybug was airborn as she let it pull her. She had to get to her house, quickly. Even if Chat Noir had been transformed longer, Ladybug had used her lucky charm, her transformation wouldn’t last. All she could do was hope it let her get to the house before Chat realized she wasn’t by the shops.

A fast moving shadow out of the corner of her eye altered her to Chat Noir already on the move. She cursed his impatience. Now it was a race. Ladybug was desperate to beat Chat to her house. She needed to get there first and destransform before he saw her so he’d see a safe Marinette, but Chat wasn’t letting up. He was ahead of her and gaining. Then her transformation died. 

Marinette cursed as she rolled across the open sidewalk. She had never even heard the earrings beeping. “I’m sorry, Marinette,” Tikki mumbled weakly. “I tried to make it.”

“It’s okay Tikki,” the teen hero scooped up her friend and started running. There was no hope of beating Chat Noir to her house now. She could already see his outline on her roof. Now she just had to get there before he ran into her parents.

 

~~~

 

Chat Noir landed hard on the rooftop patio with none of the grace he normally held. His vision was blurry and it hurt to breathe, but he needed to find Marinette and make sure she was okay. The latched door was closed, but unlocked allowing the hero access. To his surprise there was no staircase, so Chat dropped face first directly onto Marinette’s bed. “Marinette?” he called softly.

The room was still. This room had been empty for hours. If Marinette wasn’t downstairs, he was calling Ladybug and they’d search all of Paris if they needed to. His fingers brushed the long stuffed cat the stretched across the head of the bed instead of a pillow. He owed it to Marinette to find her.

With purpose Chat descended down the stairs from the loft into the main room. Chat had been here before as Adrien, but it had been less of a slap in the face. The poster he had signed hung proudly in her work station where Marinette was sure to see it when she sewed. On the half sofa sat the Chat Noir doll Marinette had made for the little girl she babysat. Chat picked it up and hugged it to his chest. He had known about the doll ever since Puppeteer, but he hadn’t realized his doll was the only one Marinette kept out on display. He saw dark shape out of the corner of his eye.

“Marinette?!” Chat spawn around only to realize the shape had been a dressform, not Marinette. “She’s so talented,” Chat said aloud to no one. “...Wait.” Chat looked at the unfinished dress. A black A-line jumper with a that corseted under the bust and a silk green blouse exactly the shade of his eyes. The stitch lines were the same green and matched the placement on the seams on his own costume so perfectly he might have thought they’d been made by the same person if he hadn’t been aware his own costume was made by magic. On the wall were photos of himself Chat Noir had never seen before. They weren’t anything he had posed for or anything he recognized as being blown up for footage on the LadyBlog.

Chat ran a finger down one of the pictures. He gave a small chuckle realizing his butt appeared to have been the focal point. Either it was an accident or Marinette was a fan for different reasons then he had given her credit for. Chat realized she must have taken these shots herself the way Alya took her Ladybug pictures. With a pang of guilt, Chat imagined Marinette on the sidelines with her camera out watching him and never being noticed until Alya told him her best friend was a fan. His chest seized again so hard he gasped. “What did I do?”

Chat reached for his staff to call Ladybug. They needed to find Marinette NOW.

“Chat?”

The super hero’s head turned so fast his hair smacked his eye. Poking her head up through the door in the floor leading downstairs was a very winded Marinette.

“I was looking for you everywhere after the battle, but-” Marinette froze. Her eyes went from the boy in her room to the Chat Noir doll in his hands, the Chat Noir reference images on her wall, the Chat Noir themed dress, to the Chat Noir poster that had certainly not been properly mounted on the wall when she left, back to Chat. Her face practically glowed red and she made a noise in her throat that was certainly not human. “I CAN EXPLAIN!” she squealed.

Marinette was still struggling to form a sentence when she felt arms wrap around her, crushing her into a leather clad chest. “Marinette, I’m so sorry. I don’t deserve a fan like you.” The top of Marinette’s head felt wet as tear stained cheeks pressed into hair.

“Of course you do.” She hugged him back gently. “I saw you save that tourist. You deserve everyone to be your fan!”

“You could have been hurt.”

“Hey now, I know better then to stand in the line of fire.”

Chat looked Marinette hard in the face. She was giving him a soft, apologetic smile, so unlike anything he’d ever seen directed at him as Adrien. All the kindness he always saw her directing at everyone else was finally pointed at him and she didn’t even realize it. “I should let Ladybug know I found you.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “She knows!” came the quick rush. “I saw her when I was looking for you, but she said she was about to change back.” Her eyes darted to his ring. “And it looks like you are too. Down to your last toe already, Chatton.”

Lifting his hand, Chat Noir saw she was right. Even without using his big attack, being transformed for so long was taking effect. The fact she knew to look at his ring was another sign she’d been paying attention when he hadn’t been looking. “Right you are, Princess. I just...I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

As Chat climbed the stairs back up to the loft so he could leave through the patio door, Marinette caught his wrist. “Hey...so my friend is throwing this block party. It’s kind of a celebration of everyone starting our final year, but it’s also kind of to celebrate you and Ladybug.” She looked away awkwardly. “I thought maybe you should come.”

“Yeah...Yeah, it’s a date.”

“A date! Great!”

 

~~~

 

After Chat Noir disappeared, Marinette stayed looking up at the open roof access letting the night’s events sink in. Chat had reacted way more strongly to his fear about Marinette being missing then she had ever expected. The things he had said when he thought she was dead hurt a lot. Did he really think she was his only fan? Sure, Chat Noir rarely got as much billing as Ladybug did, she was the one who got a statue made of her...but surely Chat Noir knew he had other fans. He did have them, didn’t he?

“Marinette?” a small voice asked from her open purse.

“Oh Tikki, I’m so sorry,” she gasped as she slipped the kwami a cookie. “I forgot you needed to recharge your energy. Are you okay?”

After a few starved bites, the red kwami floated up. “I know you feel strongly about Chat’s feelings,” she began carefully.

Marinette shook her head dismissively. “I’m not revealing my identity to him,” the teenager assured. “I know how important it is that we keep our identities secret, besides...I think that right now it’s much more important that Marinette is Chat’s number one fan. I’ll call Alya tomorrow and see if she’ll make a post on the LadyBlog about starting a fanclub or something.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Tikki sighed, a weight off her tiny shoulders. “Of course, I was more interested in expressing concern about your date.”

Blue eyes snapped wide open. “My...IT’S A DATE?!”


	3. Chapter 3: At the Festival Tonight

Marinette replayed the conversation in her head over again. Chat was in her room, holding the doll she had made of him, looking at her unfinished dress that had been inspired by his suit. She was panting breathless. “It’s a date.”

“A date! Great!”

Low in her throat, the teen made an unnatural sound of anguish as she started the conversation in her head over. No matter how many times she remembered the scene that just happened, it always ended the same way.

Tikki watched from the bookshelf as she ate her cookies to refuel her lost energy. “Marinette, this is fine!” the kwami insisted. “The black cat has always been our friend and ally, it’s good that Chat cares for you as a civilian as well as a partner.” She mumbled a comment about being made for each other under her breathe and giggled to herself.

Marinette shot her a scandalized look. “But Chat is my friend,” she insisted. “I don’t...I don’t think of him that way.” Her cheeks burned. “What would Adrien say?”

“Hey Marinette, I didn’t know you were dating a superhero,” Tikki replied in a faux masculine voice.

Marinette threw a pillow at her friend and watched as Tikki phased letting it pass through. She eyed her phone. It was 3am and today was the last day before Alya’s block party. It was either too late at night or too early in the morning to even consider calling anyone, especially Alya since there was so much that needed to be done to set things up...Instead, she texted. “Kind of accidentally a date” Blue eyes stared at the lit up screen, the words glowing brightly in the dark. As she debated if texting was just as bad as calling, Marinette instead fixed her message. “I kind of accidentally have a date.” It wasn’t better and Marinette finally opted to erase the message instead. Her finger slipped and instead of the backspace, she hit send.

Sent 02:51

Oh no. Oh no oh no.

Seen 02:52

That was even worse.

“On my way” 02:56

Marinette blinked. On her way? It was way too late/early to be on her way anywhere. Why was Alya even up?

 

~~~

 

It was just after 4 in the morning when Alya finally arrived neatly dressed, but hair still damp. “I told my parents I needed to be here before open to finalize details about your shop donating food to the party, so I NEED to leave with some pastries.” Marinette nodded quickly. “Tell me everything and leave nothing out.”

Marinette dragged Alya up the stairs. Once in her room, she shut the door and sat on it. “I sort of accidentally have a date with Chat Noir and I don’t know what to do.”

Alya steepled her fingers. With a slow sigh, she made a sharp hand gesture indicating to Marinette. “Okay, let’s try this again. Only this time when I say not to leave anything out, actually don’t leave anything out.”

“Oh...Sorry. Okay, so it started yesterday when I was leaving your house and Chat spotted me window shopping.” Marinette gave a highly edited version of her earlier battle against the akuma with Chat, being vague about her own location during the fight. “And when I get home, he’s in my room and looking at my dress and just so worried about me.” She collapsed backwards onto her door. “So I told him about your party and asked if he was coming.”

“You got Chat Noir to come to my party?!” Alya gasped.

“Alya!”

“Sorry, sorry. Then what happened?”

Marinette rolled onto her side. “Then he said it was a date and jumped out the skylight.”

Silence hung in the air as Alya considered her friend’s story. “Well...In context...maybe he was just confirming he would be there?” Alya shrugged. “I mean, he’s always making kissy faces at Ladybug, right? He’s a celebrity on a higher par than anyone we know, which kind of says a lot considering we ate lunch with a supermodel every day at school two years in a row, there’s a superstar rocker who has requested you by name, and you are literally related to an official iron chef. I don’t want to crush you, but I wouldn’t want to jump to assuming it’s a date date.”

It was a relief to hear it spoken that way. Laid out with that in context, Marinette felt pressure lifting off her chest easily. That’s right. Chat Noir loved Ladybug. He was over the moon for her, constantly flirting and trying to catch her hand or giving her those cheeky smiles. Other than showboating, Marinette couldn’t ever remember Chat trying to get anyone else’s attention before. “Two years ago he said I could be his Ladybug when he was trying to protect me from Evillustrator.”

Marinette cursed herself silently. Why had she said that with no filter?

“He...you mean he said you could be his Ladybug?”

“Two years ago. That was the first time he called me Princess, too.”

Alya’s jaw was slack. She had been aware Marinette had been targeted when Nathanael had be akumitized and that she had briefly been under Chat Noir’s protection while they used her as bait to get his cursed item away, but that bit of dialog or that he had given her a nickname was all new. “Okay...so I still don’t think we should jump to the conclusion of romantic feelings, but maybe we should rock the makeup and hair a little to match the dress. I have some perfume you can borrow.”

Marinette scowled. Just like Tikki, Alya was forgetting an important piece. “What about Adrien?”

“He promised he’d try to be there!” Alya assured. “I was there when Nino invited him.” She put on a determined smile. “So we’ll just make you cute for all the blond men in your life and hope nothing goes wrong.”

 

~~~

 

The night of the party arrived and Marinette had only barely finished her dress in time. She had allowed herself to get distracted worrying about Chat Noir, but in the end not even stress had been enough to stop her from doing what she always did best. The dress and blouse were both made from scratch and looked professional if she did say so herself. Tikki had helped remove the pins and Alya had insisted on doing her hair.

She watched Alya in the distance, a bright spot of red with black dots in the fading sun as she ran around the street finishing the last little details before the party officially started, but some guests were already on scene and helping set up. Technically Sabrina was standing around complaining with Chloe, but her father was setting up roadblocks on either end of the street. Alya had really gone out of her way to make their last night of summer before starting their final year of high school special.

Most of the services were voluntary donations of some kind such as Tom and Sabine and their table of snacks for party goers or how Nino DJing the party for free. Alya was helping her mother set up a buffet table with food her mother had prepared. Marinette had eaten at Alya’s house before, but it looked like Marlena had prepared something more akin to what one might expect from a head chef of a five star hotel for the evening.

“With everyone working so hard, I’m sure no one will notice if Marinette slips away so Ladybug can make an appearance!” Tikki hinted helpfully.

Marinette hummed a confirmation. “I thought about that, but I have a backup plan.” Tikki tilted her head as she waited for Marinette to go on. “Dad ‘forgot’ a tray of cookies,” the teenaged hero informed. “When Alya goes to talk to mom and dad to see how set up is going, I will conveniently notice their absence and offer to go home and get them. Walking there and back would take just over a half of an hour if I book it, but swinging around as Ladybug would only take two minutes.” Marinette started ticking off information on her fingers. “Alya knows how long it takes to walk to my house, she knows that I walk slower than her since my legs are shorter and that I would never run while carrying delicate baked goods. If I transform into Ladybug when no one is looking, I have fifteen minutes where I can mingle with everyone and do a quick interview with Alya, we yoyo to the house, grab the cookies, and then walk back at a brisk jog and mourn the fact that I missed Ladybug when she was here with enough of a gap in time between Ladybug leaving and Marinette returning that no one will notice that I always seem to pop back up the second Ladybug leaves the scene.” Her eyes widened, feeling that craze that always seemed to creep in whenever she over thought something.

Off in the distance, Alya let her fingers slowly drag down Nino’s arm and she reluctantly released his hand as she turned to finish her checklist. As she started talking to Tom about their preparations, Marinette popped up behind her friend casually. “Hey Dad, can I have a chocolate chip cookie?”

Tom gave his daughter a wide smile. “Of course, Marinette, but do save some for everyone else.” The comments about Marinette always snagging the cookies went unsaid, thankfully it had only been assumed the teen had a sweet tooth. Tom moved to grab the cookie tray, only to come up blank. “Sabine, do you have cookies in the van?”

Marinette watched as her mother poked her head out of the delivery van. “I thought you had them, dear.”

“Oh no,” Marinette said in an exaggerated tone. “Did you forget them at the shop? I’ll go get them!”

“What?” Alya gasped. “Marinette, no…”

“I’ll be right back, Alya. I promise.”

“Okay, but no running...You’re in heels and I worked really hard on your hair!”

Marinette grinned. “I promise!” Once out of sight, the teenaged hero let out a sigh of relief. “That went smoooth.”

The rest of the plan went smoothly too. She looped back around so she could arrive from the opposite direction she had left from and did her quick interview with Alya. She complimented the party and lamented being unable to stay, had to keep Paris safe after all. Everything was going exactly as she had laid out until she tried to exit.

“Leaving so soon, Bugaboo?”

Chat Noir. Nervous energy started to build in her stomach as she slowly turned around. The word “date” fired off in her head in thousands of tiny voices and she tried to not let it show on her face as she gave him a forced smile. “I can’t stick around, unfortunately. I have non-Ladybug things to do tonight,” she told him. Technically true while not claiming she wouldn’t be seeing him later. “If trouble pops up though, I’ll be back.” She eyed him as he nodded at her. “What about you, Kitty Cat. Here for the party?” She held her breath to see how he’d choose to comment about his “date” with Marinette.

“Oh sure, meeting my fan here,” His green eyes shot out at the sparse crowd of early attendees. “Don’t worry, I’ll save a dance for you.”

Ladybug laughed at the comment and to her own relief. He hadn’t told Ladybug it was a date, but also hadn’t denied he was meeting Marinette, whom Chat believed to be another woman. She had worked herself up for nothing. “I’m not sure if I’ll be back tonight, so probably going to need to give you a rain check, but sure. Enjoy the party, Chatton.”

The pressure of a romantic outing was lifted and Ladybug took to the sky feeling freer than she had since she had first told Alya she was a Chat Noir fan. Chat was meeting his fan, hoping for a dance with his Ladybug. This was just friendly interaction from someone who foolishly believed he only had the one fan. She’d go back to the party and have her fun, dance with Chat, dance with Alya, eat free party food, and she’d ask Alya about making a post about starting a Chat Noir fanclub when they were at school tomorrow.

Marinette was giddy as she returned with cookies, everything was perfect. When Chat called her name as she set the cookies down, she was glowing. They were just friends and he was just happy to see her. “Chatton!”

As he slowed to a halt beside her at the snack table, Chat let out a low whistle. “Well, well, Princess. That finished dress looks great on you!”

“It has pockets,” Marinette informed him with a grin.

Taking one of Marinette’s hands, he twirled her around to get a better look. “You got all the seams right. Someone has been taking a very close look at my costume.”

Marinette stifled a giggle. “I’m hoping to be a fashion designer when a graduate. I notice a well designed outfit when I see one.” She made a broad indication to Chat Noir. “You happen to have a very nice look.”

The teen hero puffed up his chest at the compliment. “They don’t come much more handsome then me, it’s true,” he boasted.

“You could be a model, you know,” Marinette said lightly watching him pose. Chat wrinkled his nose and looked at Marinette like she had a second head. “No really. You should let me draw you sometime. I have so many more ideas for outfits.”

Relief flooded the hero’s face as he took Marinette’s hand and led her to the wooden interlocking tiles that had been laid out as their dance floor. “Maybe when it’s not a school night, Princess. I believe I owe someone a great final night of summer.”

**Author's Note:**

> My first time writing for Miraculous Ladybug. Hopefully y'all enjoy.


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